Brothers Against Grimm
by CaesarNova
Summary: With the birth of a new power, the lives of the old are upset forevermore. As the Winchesters find themselves torn from their world and abandoned in Remnant, they must learn all the rules of the new game if they're to survive and make it back home. Meanwhile, the quest of RWBY is complicated in ways none could foresee. Set after Supernatural S12 & RWBY S3.
1. Cataclysm

Cataclysm

 _"There's no way we're letting Lucifer get his hands on that kid, it ain't happening!"_

 _As Sam and Dean had moved to check the warding, and Mary had gone to help Kelly, Castiel had kept silent about the rift that'd appeared, the rend in space-time that the nephilim had summoned and dissipated without a conscious thought. They'd focussed on preparing for Lucifer's arrival, keeping Kelly and the child safe…until the rends started appearing again, one, two, an infinite number darting, appearing, disappearing like sparks off a flame. His explanation that'd followed had seemed…pathetic, almost. Spatial-temporal rifts. It'd only inflamed Dean's anger against the kid further, arguing that his 'faith' could cost them the world they'd fought so hard to protect. All the same, he had not moved. Castiel's whole existence had been defined by that one question – when to yield, and when to stand firm. He'd been on the right and wrong sides of that question so many times, yet the demand for an answer never ceased. And this time, he would stand firm._

 _Whether they could've withstood Lucifer had he arrived, whether their actions would've just delivered his ultimate weapon to him on a platter, was not a question that'd come to be answered. The rifts began to appear and vanish even faster. Radiant energy began to pulse around the house ever faster, almost masking Kelly's cries as the light flared and surged. And when, finally, the child arrived…the light shone so bright as to blind them, and the world around them seemed to vanish as a force of nature not seen since the onset of creation consumed them._

Coughing and heaving, Dean's eyes flew open as a sense of reality settled on him once again. The smell of grass filled his senses, and he could feel sunlight warming his back. Hauling himself to his feet, he looked around, squinting as what felt like an unfamiliar sun shone down on him. His eyes adjusting, he saw Sam lying on his back, looking up, bewildered. Cas was slowly rising too, his eyes wary, angel blade in hand. Mary's eyes were closed as she too was lying there, though her lips were moving in what looked like a silent murmur. It was the two other figures present that concerned him.

The first one to reach his sight was an old frenemy in a black suit and with a bandaged hand.

"Crowley?" he spat in disbelief. Pulling out his M1911, Dean moved towards the demon. "Is this your handiwork? Huh?!" Crowley just stared at him, disoriented and seemingly indifferent to the weapon aimed at him,

"Eh, no. Decidedly not. I had," Crowley slowly pulled himself to his feet, dusting himself off, "come to offer help. In spite of your 'insistence'." He showed off the hand that had been pinned to their table, "Looks like I just got caught in this with the rest of you." He was looking around at the forest, frowning.

"Uh, Dean?" It was Sam, now on his feet as well. He'd pulled Mary to her feet, and the two of them had moved to stand alongside him and Castiel. They were facing the fifth figure present.

It was a teenager. A young man, clothed not dissimilarly from Castiel, albeit in a short beige jacket rather than an overcoat, a simple white shirt with an unbuttoned collar, and blue jeans instead of more formal trousers. He was staring at them all, a look of confusion and hostility on his face, his hair unkempt. And his eyes were gold.

"Is that…?" Sam asked again, uncertain. He reached an arm out, making sure that Dean's weapon was pointed at the floor. The unknown figures stared over all of them in turn, before his eyes came to rest on Castiel. He blinked, and the gold was gone from them.

"Castiel!" The newcomer walked over, tentatively approaching the angel. Castiel slowly returned his angel blade to his sleeve.

"Jack?" he asked, his grizzled voice torn between surprise and something else, some deeper emotion. The nephilim moved until he stood right in front of the angel, looking at Cas' face with an expression of delight. Reaching forward, he pulled Cas into a hug. The angel returned it.

"Cas…?" Sam asked, as the two broke apart, "Is that…?"

"Yes." Castiel bluntly answered, looking the nephilim up and down, "This is Jack. Kelly's son, and Lucifer's."

"Well shouldn't he be, I don't know, a baby?!" Dean broke in. His veins stood out against his neck as he looked around at the unfamiliar forest, "And how does he know who you are Cas?" Jack turned around to face the group, a look of confusion and deep thought on his face. Then, like flicking a switch, he smiled innocently, looking up at them all,

"Are these your friends?"

"Uh…yes," Castiel answered, clearly not certain exactly what he was supposed to do here, "This is Dean and Sam, and their mother Mary. And that is Crowley. He's-"

"A friend," the demon butted in, giving his deliberate smile, trying to appear at ease, "Well, if they'll have me."

"Jury's still out on that pal," Dean threw back. Jack looked a little more confused, though he was still smiling. He looked back to Castiel for reassurance, and the angel nodded,

"They're friends. You're safe here, for now. Wherever here is," Castiel looked around at the forest as the rest of them had, as if expecting the trees to answer his question. There were no clues to suggest wherever it was that they'd been torn to. Castiel closed his eyes, as if willing himself to do something. Then he opened them again, alarmed. Crowley coughed, before asking,

"Er, Castiel. I don't suppose you can fly right now?"

"No," he looked at his back, as if expecting to see his wings there, ready to move, "It's like…"

"This ain't Earth," Crowley finished, "And we can't get a read on what exactly it is."

"Jack," Castiel asked, "Do you know where we are?" The nephilim shook his head.

"I…didn't have control. When I was, well, coming to be. I don't think I have control now." He looked imploringly at the angel. Dean looked as if he was about to say something, but Sam grabbed his arm,

"Well, Jack," the younger Winchester asked, "Can you tell us what you do know? Like…why you're like that, or how you know Cas?"

"I'm like this because it wasn't safe. My mother told me," Jack replied, more to himself than any of the group, "I couldn't stay young. I needed to be ready. And Cas…" he smiled again, that open, disarming smile, "Of course I know Cas. He's my father."

The response to this was mixed. Mary wore a look of mild surprise. Crowley inclined his head with a thoughtful expression, as though the revelation was an obvious fact they should've already known. Sam's expression barely changed, as if he hadn't even processed it. Dean looked astonished.

"…what about Lucifer?" Sam asked eventually.

"Lucifer?" Jack said the name as if it meant nothing to him, "No, my mother was quite clear. Cas said he would protect me. That's why I chose him as my father." Castiel made no objection to any of this, simply standing there as though he'd already been briefed on all of this. That, or his existence had been made of so many burdens by this point that one more would make little difference.

"Well that's…that's just freakin' wonderful." Dean put in, "Now how about we shelve the family crap until we're back home? Or we at least have a read on where we are?"

"Well, wherever we are, it's certainly got some interesting fauna." Mary's voice carried over to the group, her tone strange. They all looked her way.

"What do you mean?" Sam frowned. Wordlessly, she pointed at the trees to the far side of their clearing.

Something was emerging from the shadows. A slavering, snarling creature whose presence immediately provoked responses. Castiel and Crowley drew angel blades and took a step back. Sam and Dean raised their pistols. Mary pulled out one of her own, and moved back to stand alongside the boys. Jack simply stood there, looking curious.

The beast had a pitch-black hide and reeked of fear. Its blood-red eyes stared malevolently at the group, devoid of any other emotion or thought behind them. It walked on all fours, its legs ending in savage, clawed paws, like some monstrous wolf. It stood for a moment, staring at the group, the ticking in its throat evolving over into a hideous growl.

"Is that…some kind of hellhound?" Sam asked.

"There is no hell gents," Crowley put in, as taken aback as the rest of them, "Not here. And if there was…something tells me _that_ would not call it home."

Dean rolled his eyes, "Look, I think we've all had enough shit for one day." He opened fire.

Sam and Mary followed suit immediately. The creature roared and flinched as the bullets struck it, but otherwise seemed unharmed. It charged, bounding towards them with ferocious speed. With expert precision, Castiel hurled his angel blade and impaled the creature in its head. It gave an agonized growl, throwing its head back as the celestial steel buried itself in, but it did not die.

"Well that could've gone better," Crowley noted. The creature charged again, and the ground quickly broke. Sam and Dean dived to one side, reloading. Mary hurled her empty pistol at it, briefly distracting it. Jack took a few steps back, seemingly on instinct, still more curious than concerned. Castiel placed himself between the creature and Jack, before rushing forward and palming its head as Mary's gun tore its attention away. There was a brief flash of light…and the creature turned to Castiel, still alive.

"Well that's not good." Cas ripped his angel blade from the creature's head as it knocked him to one side with a ferocious swipe. A huge cloud of red smoke, Crowley's true form, suddenly erupted out of his host, storming into the creature and sending it flying, before returning to the vessel. As he reacquired his body, the demon licked his lips, eyeing the still-breathing monster warily. It charged again.

"This thing really can't take a hint."

As it leapt at Crowley, the demon only avoiding its claws by hurling himself back and interposing the angel blade between it and him, Sam and Dean put another round of ammo into its side. All it did was get its attention again.

"Dean, I think we need a new plan."

"New plan?"

"New plan."

"What plan?" The monster attacked Dean, only for Sam to shove him out of the way, swerve around one slashing claw, and fire his last shot into the creature's eye. Screaming a guttural scream of agony, the creature slashed out, claws raking into Sam's chest and hurling him away.

"Sam!" Dean rushed over to his brother as Mary placed herself between them and the half-blinded creature. Back on his feet, Castiel stabbed it once again with his blade, Crowley doing the same. Again, it did nothing. Until the sound of gunfire erupted from the trees, striking the creature over and over, leaving much deeper wounds than either of the pistols had. The creature gave one last anguished cry, and collapsed. Its body only lay on the grass for a moment, before disappearing into smoke.

"That's my trick," Crowley muttered.

Sam was on his back, bleeding onto the grass. Three great gashes had been cut into his chest, his teeth gritted as he breathed rapidly, staring down at the damage. Dean was trying to keep everything calm, mostly himself,

"Woah, woah, woah, easy there Sammy, you're good, you're good. Just a little scrape…or three. Cas, get over here!" The angel moved over, staring down at the wounds,

"They look normal to me." Reach down, he laid a hand on Sam's chest, and in a flash of light, the wounds were healed, with only the shredded shirt to say it'd happened at all.

"Are you okay Sam?" Mary asked, still concerned, "We still don't know what that was."

"No," Crowley put in, "But they might."

* * *

The grimm Ruby had just put down was one of the few they'd seen since starting the journey to Haven. It was just unfortunate that they'd encountered it in the middle of attacking people. One of the strangers looked like they'd been injured, but getting a better view now she saw that only his shirt had been torn. _What a baby_ , she thought. Clearly these people valued their clothes highly, as all but one was focussed on the guy whose shirt had suffered. The one looking at them was a bearded, middle-aged man in a black suit, who was watching them with an easy smile. Yet, something about it put her on edge.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked, Nora, Jaune and Ren following her into the clearing.

"Yes, thank you," the man in the suit replied, "Bit young to be travelling on your own aren't you?" He was looking the group over.

"We're not the ones who needed help fighting one silly grimm," Nora cut in, drawing herself up to her full, tiny height, "We're huntresses. And huntsmen," she added hastily.

"You guys are hunters?" The guy in the torn shirt asked, staring as he pulled himself to his feet. He was tall, they all saw immediately, taller than anyone they'd met, except Yatsuhashi and maybe Oobleck. The shorter one standing next to him was staring fixatedly at Crescent Rose. The one in the overcoat moved to stand alongside a kid with a curious look, while a world-weary woman watched them warily.

"Huntresses and huntsmen, yeah." Nora nodded. The tall one looked to the shorter one who looked kinda like they were related. He did not take his eyes of the scythfle. Ruby noticed, and wrapped her arms around it protectively.

"Well, allow me to introduce ourselves," the man in the black suit said with a half-bow, "I'm Crowley, former King of Hell. This is Moose," he pointed to the tall one, "not Moose," the shorter, "Castiel, rebel of Heaven and breaker of deals," he pointed at the trenchcoat, "Mary, mother of meese, and that kid there is the son of Satan." The son of Satan waved at them enthusiastically,

"Hi!" he said.

"O…kay…" Ruby said. She looked back at her team uncertainly. Ren shrugged, Jaune was staring ahead coldly and Nora shook her head in bemusement. Ruby turned back, "Okay…can you say all of that again, but, well…slowly?"

"What is that?" Not-Moose asked, pointing at Crescent Rose.

"It's my weapon. Mine!" She replied, clutching it to her.

"Yeah, I get that. Relax, I'm not gonna steal it, just…what is it? And what's that?!" he asked again, now staring at Magnhild.

"Mine's a sword in case you're wondering…" Jaune muttered to himself.

"They're our weapons. Mine's a scythe and a rifle, hers is a hammer-"

"And a grenade launcher!" Nora finished proudly. Not-Moose looked seriously impressed.

"Awesome…that is awesome," he said. Moose, shaking his head, raised his hands,

"Alright!" He said, loudly enough to put RNJR on edge, "Enough! Dean, get your head in the game. That's his name by the way," he said, pointing at Not-Moose, "Dean. My name is Sam. That's Crowley, and that is Castiel, he got that part right at least. Mary is mine and Dean's mom, and that's Jack. He is the son of Satan, but he's not like Satan so-"

"Who is Satan?" Ruby asked.

"Who- what?"

"No Lucfier…I could get used to this world," Crowley said, looking around with a new sense of appreciation.

"Okay!" Ruby raised her hands now, her voice getting a little hysterical, "We're not on the same page here and it's kinda freaking me out! What's Hell? What's Heaven? Who's Satan, who's Lucifer, why are you moose-es, and why should we care?!" She was breathing deeply by the time she finished, raising her hands into the air, and letting them fall in a calming gesture. "And breathe," she said to herself. She hadn't escaped the fall of Beacon to be blindsided by…well, whatever this was.

"Right, uh, yeah. Right." Sam was scratching the back of his head, seemingly trying to figure out how to phrase it. It was Dean who came and said it straight out,

"Hell is a different plane of existence in our world where demons live. Demons are corrupted human souls that can possess people, and torture either evil souls or people who sold their souls to them. Heaven is a different plane of existence in our world where angels live. Angels are soulless soldiers designed to serve God and his four archangels. Lucifer, also known as Satan, they're the same guy by the way, is one of the archangels who rebelled against god and was cast into hell, where he made the demons. Demons and angels generally hate each other. And all of this is seemingly completely irrelevant, because apparently we are not on our world. Before you ask, we got here because Lucifer, the evil archangel, possessed a guy, banged said guy's mistress and made a half-human, half-angel son, which is called a nephilim. A nephilim is very powerful, and an archangel nephilim is apparently ridiculously powerful, so much so that his simply being born has torn a rift in the fabric of space time and dumped us here. Now," he took an elaborately deep breath as he finished, his voice having sped up as he steamed through the speech, "D'you mind telling us where we are, and what that thing was?"

There was a silence when he finished speaking, as RNJR looked at them, dumbfounded. Jack was grinning, looking back and forth between the two groups. Crowley shrugged, as if in apology. Castiel looked uncomfortable. Mary just looked tired.

Then Nora burst out laughing, "Are you guys LARPing? Because that is a great story!" Dean looked stunned.

"Great, great. They don't have God, or any of his mess, but they have freakin' LARPing?! What the hell is this place Sam?! And why can we understand them if we're not even on earth anymore, why are they speaking English?"

"English?" Ren asked.

"You're on Remnant. Specifically in a forest between Vale and Haven." Jaune cut in, "That creature Ruby killed was a grimm. Huntsmen kill grimm, it's our job."

"Wait, you guys actually get paid for hunting?" Sam asked, "You don't have to constantly commit fraud and break the law?"

The four shook their heads. A tension fell over the clearing, as the disparate groups stared at each other. It lasted for a while, each group clearly uncertain as to what to do with the other. Then Mary turned to them,

"Thank you, by the way. For killing that…grimm, was it?"

"You're welcome," Ruby answered, clearly relieved at having a conversation which she could understand, "I'm sorry about what it did to your son's shirt." Mary laughed,

"I was more worried about the cuts, but still…thank you."

"What cuts?" Jaune asked.

"The cuts that I healed," Castiel broke in with his grave voice, "Angels can generally heal wounds. They need heaven's power to do it, as a rule of thumb, but even though there's no heaven here I'm still able."

"You can heal wounds? That's amazing!" Jaune replied. His praise seemed to make Castiel even more uncomfortable,

"We can do a lot of things," he murmured, "Heals wounds, smite demons, raise the dead…"

"I'd like to point out that demons can do all of that too," Crowley broke in with a cough, "For a modest fee of course."

"You can resurrect people?!" Jaune strode across the clearing now, walking right up to Castiel. The angel almost adopted a combat stance before Jaune stopped, his every word now dripping with severity,

"Can you bring somebody back for us?! Please! She's not been gone long, we'll give whatever we have to give-"

"I-I'm sorry," Castiel replied, taken aback by the intensity, "But to bring them back, we need to know where their soul has, well…passed on to. And with no heaven or hell…"

"But if we find that out, you could bring her back?!"

"I should be-"

"We'll make you a deal," Jaune broke in, "You guys are out of water, I get it. We can escort you to civilisation, and teach you whatever you need to know about our world along the way. We can make sure you survive, all of you."

"And in exchange you want this resurrection," Castiel finished.

"Jaune," Ruby placed a hand tenderly on his shoulder, "I don't know if…"

"Just…think about it. That's all I ask." Even the stress of the request seemed to have defeated him, somewhat. He turned away. Castiel frowned, thinking. He looked around at the group. Crowley was watching the pained teen with an almost predatory look. Jack was looking at Castiel himself, his head slightly tilted, waiting. Dean and Sam moved to speak to him,

"Cas, we need what they're offering," Dean began, "All the rules have changed now, and we don't know exactly how much. For all we know, Lucifer got dragged over here with us, and if we're going to be able to protect Jack and get home, we need to be at our A-game. We don't know what monsters are here, nothing-"

"I understand Dean." He turned to the teenagers, "We would like to travel with you, if that's acceptable."

"Sure," Ruby said, smiling so purely that it disarmed him, "You tell us about your world, and we'll tell you about ours."

"You might not want to know," Sam replied sadly, "There are a lot of monsters in our world."

"Don't worry," Nora replied cheerfully, "There are plenty of monsters here too."

* * *

"Well…this is odd." Casually strolling through a forest, where a second ago he'd been flying past a concrete jungle…Lucifer took a pointed sniff, as if to smell what was up with this little phenomena. He'd have suspected Gabriel, if he hadn't, well, killed Gabriel. Flexing back, he stretched his ethereal wings, the forest suddenly glowing with a brilliant radiance. He looked skyward. Closing his eyes, he willed himself to heaven.

And when he opened them again, he was still in the forest.

"No heaven, huh…great." He glanced at a tree immediately to his left, patting its bark fondly, "At least I'll always have you, tree." Then he clicked his fingers and the tree exploded.

Closing his eyes and turning his head away from the flying shards of wood, Lucifer raised his hands in an unnecessary show of protecting himself. Taking on a look of mild appreciation, he stared at the stump that remained.

"Well, that still works at least." Clicking his fingers again, he watched as the tree was immediately restored, "Good tree." He patted it again. Then, staring at a patch of ground some thirty feet away from him, he willed himself to fly there.

He succeeded – but not without difficulty. Staggering slightly as he reappeared on corporeal ground, he doubled over coughing, blinking rapidly as he looked back at the negligible distance he'd flown. Placing one hand on the ground, he tried to get to grips with the feel of the Earth. If this was Earth.

Somehow, he doubted it.

"This must be junior's work," he murmured. And if it'd affected him, odds were it'd affected others. Maybe junior was here himself, along with Castiel. Maybe the angels, the demons, the Winchesters, and all those other miserable little mewling mistakes of his father were here. Unfamiliar turf, new rules. And his son as the grand prize.

Lucifer bared his teeth in a smile. He was _the_ Archangel now. His father was gone, two of his brothers were dead, and Michael was in his cage. Which, conveniently, had no-one left alive who knew how to open it. There were none above him, none who could oppose him. He was the Archangel, the inheritor of God.

And he would find his son, and make this new world his own.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Right, C1 is up. Hope you enjoyed it! I don't know exactly how large the Venn diagram of RWBY / Supernatural fans is, but I hope its more circular than I'm presuming. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated, I'm always looking to improve. Next chapter will be next Monday at 9 to half 9-ish depending on how well I get my act together. Other fics in the meantime! Apologies for the formatting, been a while since I've posted a fic and this site does not like my word formatting. Onwards and upwards from here! For more RWBY / general fic goodness, check out RegentSeptimus, he posts good shit. Peace out.**

 **Song of the Day: My Darkest Days - Still Worth Fighting For**


	2. New Climates

New Climates

Weiss never liked it when the General came to visit their estate. Not because she had anything against him personally – he was shrewd, principled, and brave to a fault. She'd seen as much in the fall of Beacon, however much of a mess it'd turned into. No, the reason she never liked it had nothing to do with the General himself; only the mood her father would be in once he'd left.

And this meeting was guaranteed to be worse than any before. Not only because of the fallout from Beacon, the downing of the CCT, the surging grimm populace…but because of the new threat. The storms that had been tearing at Atlas and all across Remnant, the influx of terrified, confused refugees supposedly from another world. And their 'protectors', the new force in Atlas that'd left the Council singularly uneasy.

She stood now at the door to her father's study, silent and listening intently. She'd tried to get in touch with Winter, but her sister had been curt: _too much is happening too fast. Stay at home, and stay out of it._ Weiss felt grateful that her sly brother had little interest in the politics of Atlas, besides what it had to offer him. He'd seemed unusually calm when last she saw him, still wholly faithful in the military might of Atlas, and the power of lien. She was less certain, and unwilling to wait until she was proven right or wrong. And so she stood silently, occasionally throwing a glance down the long corridor, straining as she listened.

"…whoever this figure is, they're…but the new arrivals have… their banner. The 'angels'…at least. Most of the ordinary people have no idea…they're not even…"

It was Ironwood, she could tell, but she couldn't hear enough. Gritting her teeth, she pressed her head closer. Ordinarily she'd scoff at the idea of eavesdropping, but some things were just that important.

"If these people are not of Atlas, then they're none of our concern! You should be routing these, 'angels' or whatever they are and re-establishing our unquestioned authority, not imposing trade-destroying embargos and locking down-"

Her father's voice grew shrill in his anger, it easily flowing to her and she felt a dull sickness in her stomach at the sound of it. Ironwood's response had a steel to it that, in spite of him not raising his voice one decibel, still carried to her,

"They're connected to the influx. If we can make common cause with them-"

"How can we do that? We don't even know what they want!"

"We're negotiating with them even now, and our ground forces are maintaining order in the streets. We cannot afford to create more fear and panic by going to war with these, whoever they are and wherever they came from."

Jacques scoffed, "'Angels' they call themselves. Meaningless buzz word, whatever the new dregs think of it. They're faunus huntsmen with wings, nothing more. Their 'abilities' are standard practice, and their arrival right when we're on the back foot should not-"

"Yes, a small army of huntsmen from no academies, all with the same abilities and same specific faunus traits. Fantastic theory Jacques, the Council would be lost without you." Ironwood sounded bored, "Look. I understand this is difficult for your company, and I don't want to jeopardise our friendship over this." He left that sentence hanging in the air for a moment, before continuing, "But our contingencies are in place. The embargo will remain, and the lockdown will go into full effect. These new arrivals are free to leave before then, but if they choose not to then they will be considered under Atlas jurisdiction. Meanwhile, we'll continue to negotiate with these 'angels'. Apparently they're soldiers, so this might go easier than we'd expected. And even if it doesn't, our intelligence indicates they're in no way related to our true enemies, and so our concern is theirs as well. We just get to strike first."

Her father made no reply to that apart from a disgruntled _hmph_ , and she took that as her cue to enter. Knocking lightly, she darted in as quickly as she could. Closing the door behind her as rapidly and quietly as she could, she curtsied briefly as the two men within looked towards the disturbance.

"Weiss," her father said, his voice oddly distant. Perhaps he was wondering just how much she'd heard prior to entering.

"You asked for me?"

"Yes." As he confirmed it, Ironwood rose,

"We'll continue this conversation another time, Jacques." He moved towards the door,

"You will keep me aware of further developments?" the Schnee patriarch asked, his voice tired now. Weiss' eyes widened – her father prided himself on his position of power, and supposedly he'd never _asked_ for anything since he proposed to her mother. If Ironwood was surprised, he showed no sign.

"Of course." And with that, the General was gone.

"Arrogant fool," Jacques muttered once the door was closed and a good ten seconds had passed. _Odd bit of introspection, father._ "Sit down girl," he waved to one of the ornately comfortable chairs in the room, not bothering to look at her. She obeyed.

"Your decision," he began, spitting out the words without preamble, "To become a huntress was not a decision I supported. It was not a decision I supported when your sister took that path either. You two are privileged to belong to the most influential family in Atlas, and it's about time you started acting like it!"

Weiss wanted to reply, but forced herself to stay silent. Her father was always right in his mind – trying to earnestly discuss something with him was always a pointless exercise, and almost always led to more pain in the future.

"But," he continued, now with a heavy sigh, "Seeing as you've insisted on this endeavour, it's about time you used it for the good of the family." She looked at her father, eyes widening,

"How exactly?"

"Your sister," he began, the venom returning to his voice, "has apparently 'gone dark'. The good General has tried his best to keep this from me, but the Schnees have many friends." _False friends_ , "Why exactly your sister has refused to accept my calls," _she always refuses your calls, and it's for the same reason I refuse your calls,_ "I can't say. Yet this little development I am unwilling to accept. The good General has kept the apparent disobedience of one of his most prized lieutenants quiet – well, that'll be to avoid looking even more incompetent after the Beacon debacle – yet it favours us as well. If it becomes apparent that the once-heiress to the Schnee Dust Company has deserted the Atlesian military, we'll become a laughing stock. And I will not let her drag my name through the mud!"

 _Sure father, 'your name'_. Yet his words had sent a stab of fear through her: Winter wasn't the type to disobey, and especially not desert. While she'd rebelled against her father, there was a league's worth of difference between defying a control freak who had no affection for you whatsoever, and betraying a man you respected. A man who rose you through the ranks, showed you the ropes, who'd trained you all through your young life.

"You want me to try and get in touch with her?" Weiss asked quietly. Even if she could get back in touch with Winter, she was fairly certain her sister would still tell her nothing. If she asked on her father's behalf, she'd somehow get less than nothing.

Her father's eyes glinted as he replied, "Yes. But not over the phone, I'm certain you've tried that already. For you see, while your sister has apparently gone dark, she has not gone far. The good General's lockdown will soon be in full effect, and more of our 'friends' within the military have assured me that not expeditionary forces, deserting or no, have left Atlas. Whatever she is doing, she's still here. You will go and find her."

"Alright." She had no idea how on Remnant she was supposed to do that. She loved her sister, but didn't have the kind of deep psychological insight to track her down when she clearly didn't want to be found. Winter had carried out so many covert operations by this point she could be hiding anywhere.

"You will do this," her father continued, as if reading her thoughts, "by acting as a…replacement of sorts to the General. This will not be a permanent arrangement, do you hear me?! You will continue your education as your sister did. I did not want this," he said bitterly, "But it seems your sister has forced my hand. You will learn, you will locate your sister, you will fix this problem, and then you will return home. You will do this for the Schnee name. And Weiss," he leaned down towards her now so their faces were inches apart. She could smell the scotch on his breath, "you will not fail. Or your position in this family will be very questionable indeed."

Weiss closed her eyes briefly as he pulled back, waiting until the air was clear to breathe. _Okay, Weiss. Winter may need you_. She didn't believe that, in truth. If her sister was in a problem she could not deal with herself, _she_ would certainly be useless. But she had to try. To find out the truth, if nothing else.

 _If Winter is gone, she must have a damn good reason._

* * *

"Really? Your souls protect you?" Even as he said it, Dean found the words incredulous. Their souls got the pleasure of being caged with a bunch of self-righteous angels, or tortured for all eternity. And these kids got magic shields? Briefly, he fantasized about punching Chuck in the face.

"Yeah," Ruby answered, as though the concept was a basic as wet water, "Otherwise, well, the grimm probably would've won already."

"Eh, you don't know that," Dean brushed off the idea, "Our world's full of monsters but it still ticks over."

"Mostly because of you by the sound of it," Nora chimed in, "Did you really kill the most evil man alive?"

"Oh yeah," Dean said, grinning widely, "the big ol' H-I-T-L-E-R. You know, the fact that you don't have him in this world is a big plus for it already. And Sammy threw Lucifer and Michael into hell, which is one more archangel than the alpha archangel himself managed."

"Dean, we also accidentally released both Lucifer and Amara, both of which nearly destroyed the world."

"Well…nobody's perfect."

Together, the group were marching towards a town marked on Ruby's map called Shion. Apparently it was a bustling centre for activity; RNJR were hoping to use the airship they had there to get to Haven, and continue their journey. The others…well, in reality the journey had been much more important to them than the destination. They'd traded tips, tricks and trivia on both of their worlds, hoping to at the very least get the know-how needed to last. There'd been some level of fascination on both sides.

"If you guys are hunters, you need a team name," Nora intoned solemnly, "you get four letters. First letter is the leader, and it should be related to a colour."

"CSCD. Pronounced 'secede'. With yours truly at the helm, of course," Crowley answered immediately, smiling his shark smile.

"One, 'secede' isn't a colour. Two, the day we put you in charge is the day with all resign ourselves back to Hell," Sam shot back.

"…cedar is a colour. And what, would you prefer to follow the socially stunted angel?"

"It's a wood, and yes. Well…prefer to you, anyway."

"That's cold, Moose."

"And all of this is irrelevant," Dean butted in, "Because we are not staying here. We are hunters, not huntsmen. We'll get whatever info we can at the next village, then we'll camp out there until our tagalong kid can remember how exactly he tore us out of our own reality." A silence fell, the casual conversation swept away. Ruby looked up from her map, nodding as though that was a perfectly ordinary, sensible course of action.

"Maybe you should be the leader," she chirped, "Team DSCC. Pronounced desk. Or disc, I guess."

"How are either of those related to a colour?" Sam asked.

"…a desk is made of wood…"

Mary and Sam walked at the back of the group along with Castiel, Jaune and Ren. Jaune and Mary had been doing their best to prepare the young nephilim, cautioning him on his wide-eyed acceptance of the world. Castiel and Ren had been having a low, awkward conversation about battle tactics,

"So your defence is reliant on your soul?" the angel asked. Ren nodded,

"It needs to be unlocked, but yeah. Once it is, it can protect you, heal – it's pretty invaluable."

"And how is it unlocked?"

"Well…anyone with an aura can 'unlock' another person's aura."

"And anyone with a soul has aura."

"Yes."

Castiel pointed towards Sam and Dean, and then back towards Mary,

"They have souls." Ren slowly nodded,

"I'm glad."

"No…can you unlock their aura? To protect them?"

"Uh, sure, I guess. We can try." Relaying the conversation, Ren, Nora and Ruby quickly moved to stand in front of Mary, Sam and Dean. Nora looked up at Sam, a giant compared to her, and she smiled broadly. Jaune turned to Castiel,

"Don't," he pointed at Castiel, Crowley and Jack, "You guys have souls?"

"No," Castiel replied bluntly, "I'm an angel of the Lord. We have celestial grace; we predate souls. Crowley is a demon, he lost his soul."

"Got a whole bunch stored up for a rainy day back home though," he cut in, his gritty voice rolling over the conversation, "Think I could make some kind of super-aura?"

"And Jack," Castiel pressed on, "Is a nephilim he…sort of has both. But I don't know what this, er, procedure will do to him. Besides, I'm sworn to protect him."

"And even if he wasn't," Crowley pointed out, "That is a half-archangel nephilim who is stronger than everyone else here put together. No offence."

"None taken." Jaune stared at Jack, as if expecting radiant light to pour from him at any second. Then he glanced back to the rest of his team. Sam and Dean were staring uncomfortably ahead as the teenage girls tried to unlock some dormant power from within their very essence. Mary seemed more relaxed as Ren calmly intoned the philosophical ideas associated with the awakening. A light started to shine from each figure – golden from Mary, an ethereal blue from Dean, and a tainted red from Sam. When it was over, all stood back, looking themselves over.

"…huh." Whipping out a knife, Dean ran it across his palm. He could feel himself resisting the curve of the blade, and as he pulled it back he smiled broadly, "Now _this_ will be useful!"

"Thank you," Sam said, initially to Nora, then back to all of them, "All of you. We'd be a lot more screwed if we hadn't stumbled across you guys."

"Don't worry," Ruby said, smiling, "That's what we're here for. To help people."

"Hunting things. Saving people," Dean murmured under his breath, his smile smaller now, but no less resounding.

"We should press on," Jaune put in. Jack walked up to Sam, touching his arm and chest,

"You seem…different."

"Less useless to be sure," Crowley said.

"The young blond one is right," Castiel cut in, "We need to move. We still don't know exactly what else might be out there. If we're here, Lucifer could be here. And we wouldn't want to repay your help with a fight," he said to RNJR as a whole, apologetically.

"And Lucifer isn't the only problem. If anything else from our world is here…your grimm look bad enough, but this forest looks like prime Wendigo territory." Dean took a sniff of the air, as if to catch them out by scent alone, "then again," he continued, his eyes drifting to Crescent Rose, "you could probably take them, at least." Nora snorted,

"Bring your big, nasty Lucifer along, we'll take him down too!" She palmed Magnhild as she said it, grinning viciously. Sam looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Maybe," he said. _Aura or no, not likely_.

* * *

"Hello again tree…hello again tree…" Lucifer repeated his maddening mantra as he continued to trek through the forest. It was infuriating, being forced to walk along the dirt like some worthless ape. He reasoned that he could probably fly faster; but without knowing exactly where he wanted to go, and how much of a toll it would take, he couldn't risk it. Jack was his first priority. The deaths of the Winchesters and whatever groupies they'd brought along – that was really more of a pleasure, than a priority. If there was no Hell, there was no cage. And if there was no cage...he threw his head back, drew in a deep breath, and smiled. He hadn't felt this secure in a long time. His old man had packed up and left, typically without so much as a thank-you to the son he'd betrayed, and who had then risked his life to take down said father's annoyingly powerful sister anyway. Not even a card. His dad really hadn't changed.

There was a rustling to his right, and he sighed. Black shadow-creatures had been attacking him fairly routinely since he'd arrived, but that had been about as problematic as a fly buzzing around. One click and they were dust. Whatever would-be god had made those things, they clearly weren't designed to take on the likes of him.

But this time was different – it wasn't a monster that emerged, but a man, loosely armoured, with unusual contraptions for bracers around his wrists. The man looked young, no more than twenty-odd, though he had a few scars and was fairly well-built. Long black hair was tied back in a braid behind his head, and he eyed Lucifer with caution as he approached.

"Hey. You lost?" Pulling a face, Lucifer turned to him,

"A little. Say, you wouldn't have happened to see a, well, a child, I guess? Probably accompanied by a non-entity; a guy with long hair who looks like he could actually _be_ something, with a different pilot; and some duster-wearing, vapid looking…thing."

"That is an oddly specific and yet vaguely absurd request. 'Fraid not. My name is Kael, I'm a huntsman. Looking to help, or just round up any stragglers in the area. You are?"

"Name's Luc…just Luc. Say, you wouldn't happen to know where any civilisation is at all, would you?"

"Yeah. You're not too far from a place called Vale. Was a bustling centre of life, now it's…a little overrun."

"Vale, huh." _If I can just get a map, get a read on this planet, I might be able to fly more easily. And if I can fly again…_ "And this Vale is?" The huntsman pointed in the direction, "Thank you." Lucifer clicked his fingers.

To his surprise, the huntsman did not instantly explode into a mess of blood and gore. Instead, a vicious sound rang through the air, a half-explosion, half-high, ringing note, like some kind of unholy cymbal. The huntsman was hurled backwards, but he managed to right himself. Blades emerged from his bracers,

"What in the-?" the huntsman exclaimed. Frowning, Lucifer nodded,

"That's what I'm thinking too." He clicked again. Same story, same terrible sound, same mostly unharmed huntsman. Pointing his bracer at Lucifer, the huntsman fired off one blade, it rocketing towards him. With an irritated flick of his wrist, Lucifer sent the blade off course. Like a revolver, the huntsman's bracer rotated, and a new blade emerged from it. Bored, Lucifer flicked his wrist again and sent the ape flying into a tree. The huntsman didn't right himself this time, his head giving out an almighty crack as he slammed into it. The archangel didn't even bother to see if he was dead.

"Right, that was concerning. Now onto Vale."

* * *

 **Author's Note: The journey continues. Will Lucifer descend upon the group like, well, a descending-devil-thing? Has Winter just gone out for ice cream? Tune in next Monday to find out! Or maybe I'll post another one earlier, anything's possible. 'Till then, thank you for all faves, follows, reviews etc, check out Regent Septimus for more wonderful work, and have a wonderful night/day!**

 **Song of the Day: Evanescence - Call Me When You're Sober**


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